Sweet Maria's Weblog

We have some great changes lined up. We are planning on adding some improvements to sweetmarias.com tomorrow. Look forward to a nicer layout for coffee and products along with an easier, more secure check out.

There's a popular saying about having to break some eggs to make an omelet, and this couldn't be more true as we launch our new web features. Well, we won't be breaking anything but we may cause you a little inconvenience while we are down and changing things around behind the scenes.

Our site will be down for about an hour between sometime before Friday night (June 26)

After the change:

If you have an account saved on our site, you will have to reset your password. Just click on "forgot password" when logging in to reset it.

If you are using a gift certificate, please email us at info@sweetmarias.com after placing your order to apply your credit.

Behmor is getting ready to launch their innovative new product, the Behmor Connected Roaster. It will give the user the ability to control the machine with an app on their smartphone. We haven't had a chance to test one yet but if it works as well as the Behmor Plus and the original Behmor roaster, we think there are going to be a lot of happy coffee roasters out there when this machine hits the market.

So, you are in the market for a new roaster...and you are curious about the Behmor Connected...but don't want to wait around all summer without a cool, new Behmor. Well, Behmor has a new promotion that you should be excited about.

If you buy (or have bought) a Behmor Plus between June 1, 2015 and July 7, 2015, from us or any other authorized dealer, you will receive a $40 credit from Behmor to upgrade your new machine to the Behmor Connected later this year OR free round trip ground shipping if you decide to ship your Behmor Plus to Behmor and have them install the kit for you.

Ever notice how a lot of products sold online share the same price? This is due to MAP (Minimum Advertised Pricing). Whomever is selling these products to retailers asks that they don't sell them for under a set amount. This is the best way to keep all involved companies sustainable and to maintain the value of the products being sold.

So why are we enrolling you in Merchandising 101? Well, it's because we are dealing with a frustrating issue that we wanted to be transparent about. From a business standpoint, it's a bit illogical to write an article all about how you can purchase a product that we sell, for less, from someone else, but we think this is pretty important.

As you may know, Sweet Maria's and our wholesale company, Coffee Shrub are the importers of the Clever Coffee Dripper. This means Sweet Maria's sells them directly to our customers and Coffee Shrub sells them by the case for a discounted price to retailers. We ask our retailers to sell them for an amount no higher than the price we sell them for. This keeps things fair across the board. MAP is a standard way of selling products...car parts, electronics, cosmetics, garden supplies, etc.

So here's the issue. The Clever Dripper is sold by a number of resellers on Amazon.com. When one of these resellers drops their price below MAP, it's difficult to track them down and ask them to raise their price. We are normally able to contact them and the price is set back to normal but in the meantime, the other companies selling the Clever are at a huge disadvantage and lose money.

So, I Should Pay More, Just to Support This MAP Thing?

It's totally up to you, but there are a lot of companies out there that are dedicated to selling quality coffee products at sustainable prices. Companies that break MAP are looking to shave a few sales away from these honest companies. Some MAP violators will even lower their prices during evening and early morning hours to fly under the radar. The extra dollar or so that you pay to buy from an honest reseller helps them to stay in business and continue to offer great coffee gear.

I noticed someone selling Clevers on Amazon for less but the dripper looks different...